TECH TRASH TURNS INTO TREASURED ART NOW
JULIE ALICE CHAPPELL
Technology turns into trash quickly as new versions proliferate, turning what might have once been beautiful solutions into ugly waste.
Painter, photographer and sculptor Julie Alice Chappell transforms found objects into incredible sculptures, organic in nature, seeming to grow and evolve.
Her current series, Computer Component Bugs, incorporates the printed ephemera from inside discarded technology hardware.
Recycling old computers and other gadgets, which she calls “bits of cultural refuse,” she addresses what she considers to be “excesses of modern living,” and the impacts of planned obsolescence and e-waste in the environment.
Chappell repurposes this cultural tech debris. She creates a stylized representation of organic structures through geometric patterns, networks and configurations, often based on mathematical formulae found in the natural world.
Many patterns and structures of electronic circuitry are reminiscent of the those found in nature. We see it in cells, plants, and, often, in insects. Chappell leverages, this in her designs.
Chappell’s Bugs, with their magnificent metallics colors, also mimic the shimmering, iridescence of insect wings, skin and shells.
The tech components in Chappell’s Bugs also serve as a celebration of human ingenuity and knowledge passed down through generations.
As with other art works that are made out of recycled materials and found objects, Chappell’s work turns trash into treasure. It displays an aesthetic beauty, while it offers a socio-political commentary. It reclaims waste and makes it own small attempt to mitigate destruction of the natural world.
Tech detritus becomes visionary objects that Chappell hopes will inspire, amuse, renew and provoke.
Currently, Chappell is taking her Computer Component Bugs to a new level, arranging them into patterns and mandalas, in a direct response to Damien Hirst’s Entomology Series.
See more of Julie Alice Chappell’s works here. You can purchase Chappell’s sculptures and prints here.
Read more about Beautiful Tech, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Beautiful Technology Makes Life More Beautiful Now, New Technology Turns Ancient Biotech Into Fine Art Now, Gorgeous Delicious Tech Now, Beautiful Technology Shows Us the Art of the Invisible Now, The Beauty of Vertigo Now and New Tech That Helps You Tick More Beautifully Now.
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IMAGE CREDITS:
All images by Julie Alice Chappell.
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